We have on Oster Express bake. http://www.oster.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=2003It makes horizontal loaves in 1 1/2 and 2 lb loaves. There is a beep that goes off during the kneading cycle to advise you when to add raisins etc. You can set the timer and have fresh bread when you want. You can make dough in it (you can even make jam in it, though I've never tried!).

Thanks for the replies, I've been looking at so many online it is boggling. The worst part is that I was given a new bread maker - and gave it away 4 years ago when we moved to Ontario !! Never had the need to use it as we could buy bread and I just made from scratch the odd loaf of home made bread.
I do like how the new bread makers have timers, that would be great to set if we have to go out or for in the morning. Especially as DS gets older and will need more than just one slice to fill him up.

We have a big old basic one (can't think of the name!), very few bells and whistles, but works very well. I use the dough cycle primarily, haven't baked a loaf in it for years. If I were buying a new one I wouldn't get a super fancy one.

I had the same thought Becky. Bells and whistles don't always mean 'better'. I have seen some B&D basic ones that still have a timer.
Reading Cuisinart reviews many say the paddles stick in the bread. I'm sure there are issues with every bread maker but that seems to be a standard comment.
I'll check out what costco sells.

Despite the first couple of bad reviews, I have never had any problems with it, and with pretty frequent usage, it still works great.

It has all the functions that I would ever need, including the timer, the dough only, and jam. I found a french bread recipe in the manual that didn't have egg/dairy and started with that. Being a white bread loaf, I started playing with whole wheat flour and spelt flour, and it hasworked every time. I also take the dough out to bake in my regular oven because I like the baguette shape, and putting on a flat pan instead of the very deep pan that comes with the breadmaker, I end up with more 'top' crust and less 'bottom' crust, if you know what I mean.

It's great for us as we can eat some grocery store breads, but none of the awesome crusty loaf types due to nuts in the bakeries.

We have a Black and Decker (model B2500C). It was on sale at Canadian Tire when we bought it (they go on sale at Canadian Tire quite often, and it was somewhere around the $100 mark). We have owned 4 breadmakers, and they are all in our house, in working order, except for one that conked out last year (it was also a Black and Decker). The only reason we have 4 is because the first one we owned was a wedding gift (MultiChef), but it only makes a one pound loaf. The second one we bought, still works. It is a Black and Decker and makes a 2 lb loaf. It's currently sitting in our basement. I have to admit, the only reason I bought another breadmaker was because I wanted one to match our stainless steel appliances since it sits on our counter all the time. The first stainless steel one we bought was great, until it suddenly conked out. We replaced it with another Black and Decker (stainless steel) that makes a 2 lb loaf. For our family, we make bread almost everyday, so making a 2 lb loaf is important to us. We bake the loaf in it most of the time, unless I want buns or a baguette style loaf. Yesterday I made 2 loaves of braided bread for celebrating Ukrainian Christmas. I also just like the basic features, even though this breadmaker has other capabilities. The features I like are that it can bake a 2 lb loaf (white or whole wheat), make bread dough, make pizza dough (the recipe and time frames are different in our breadmaker) and also has a delay timer up to 12 hours. Our breadmaker gets a lot of use. A quick dessert item I like to make for guests is the "Land of Nod" cinnamon buns (it's online here). I use a 2 lb dough recipe, make 24 balls, plop them into a greased bundt pan and put on brown sugar, Jello instant vanilla pudding, and some butter. The recipe is on our forum, and I'll search for the article if anyone is interested. Anyway, I find the breadmaker can make this impressive dessert that everyone always goes crazy over. I don't find it to be much of a problem to make bread all the time. We've just needed to make it part of our daily life. Best of luck with whatever you find!

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